AG debate focuses on donations

Published: Wednesday, October 28, 1998

DALLAS (AP) - Democrat Jim Mattox, characterized by Republican John Cornyn as the "junkyard dog of Texas politics," bit back Tuesday night during a debate between the two candidates for Texas attorney general.

Nine minutes into the telecast from KERA, Mattox assailed Cornyn for saying Mattox had made a habit out of soliciting and taking campaign contributions from convicted felons.

"Typically, John doesn't know what he's talking about," Mattox said, an assertion he repeated several times during the debate.

Mattox said ex-cons who had paid their debts to society should not be excluded from donating to the candidates of their choice.

Cornyn ignored the challenge and said after the debate that he could document the allegations contained in the ads.

"I think that the best characterization of our ads is that they're truthful," Cornyn said. "But sometimes the truth hurts."

Mattox said he had produced his own attack ads and was still deciding whether to use them in the campaign's final week.

"I would much prefer that the public look at us from a purely positive perspective," Mattox said. "It's obvious he doesn't want that."

Mattox, 55, has touted his experience in the job, having served as attorney general from 1983-91. He earlier represented Dallas in the Texas and U.S. Houses.

For Cornyn, a 46-year-old former state supreme court justice, Mattox' prior tenure as attorney general is the prime reason he should not get the job back. He cites continuing problems in the collection of child support, the subject of an audit released Tuesday by the Sunset Advisory Commission.

An auditor recommended leaving the duty with the attorney general's office for another two years while efficiency is increased.

The agency, with 2,410 workers and a $180 million annual budget, is responsible for helping parents collect overdue child support. But the attorney general's office contends that those are not adequate resources, and the audit concurred.

Legislators should fund 76 new workers, at $5.3 million, and an additional 127 workers to increase the efficiency of a new, $75 million federally-mandated computer to do more work, the audit said.

Both candidates pledged to make changes in the beleaguered system, but Mattox said Cornyn should have done something while he was a state district judge and a justice.

Cornyn responded that he had dealt daily with child support cases, but admitted later in the debate that 60 percent of cases do not have enforcible judicial orders in place.

The debate provided ample opportunity for the candidates to demonstrate their individual styles.

Cornyn seemed somewhat aloof, reciting allegations against Mattox' record. Mattox, meanwhile, argued directly at Cornyn, saying the Republican did not know what he was saying or was reciting "bull."

When asked whether they had the temperament needed to be attorney general, Cornyn admitted that because of his background on the bench, he did seem "like a judge." But, he added, he would be "an advocate in court, when it counts, in the most important cases."

Mattox said that Cornyn had been a "big insurance company lawyer" who had spent his career "fighting the sick and injured of our society."

Mattox said he was proud of the nickname "junkyard dog" if it meant he would fight for consumers.

"If the attorney general's office was set up to protect society, citizens, from the big-profit interests of this nation; putting John Cornyn over there would be like putting the fox right into the henhouse."